Thoughts and commentary about the janitorial and office cleaning business.

October 2009

10/29/2009

Yesterday morning, I presented a quote to a multi-purpose facility just down the street . The prospect asked me about keeping separate the cleaning cloths to be used in restrooms from those to be used in the rest of the facility. I believe this is the first time a prospective client has been well enough informed to bring up the topic (we're a janitorial service in Phoenix AZ).

Industry best practice in damp cleaning/sanitizing, to avoid cross contamination, uses different colored microfiber cloth wipes for different areas - say, green for general office, red for restrooms, blue for glass - to avoid using the same cloth on the toilet and the desk. Good idea.

My concern in janitorial supplies (at least this morning) is within the restrooms. Using one cloth for the entire restroom - toilets, stall walls, sinks, counters and door knobs - allows cross contamination among all these surfaces. One might use one cloth for toilets, another for sinks, a third for stall walls, a forth for door knobs, and so on, but still transfer contaminates from one toilet to another - and have to differentiate between a lot of cloths (and they don't make them in that many colors).

Therefore, we do not use cloths in restrooms at all. Instead, we use paper towels, disposing them between fixtures, or between areas (then applying disinfectant). While I'm not happy about "wasting" towels, I think it preferable to spreading pathogens. Until a better idea comes along.

A bit about us:

My firm, CBN Building Maintenance, provides commercial cleaning services in Phoenix AZand the wider metro area. We've been in business since 1974; hold the BBB's A-plus rating; and have long been in the forefront of the industry in environmentally sensitive cleaning for health, safety and security. Our program can generally improve Indoor Air Quality, in the size range of most allergens, by a factor of 50%, as reflected in our ongoing IAQ sampling.

10/23/2009

Participating in ongoing discussion, regarding swine flu preparedness, on myfacilitiesnet, a site frequented by facility managers. To help define terms, and real-world possibilities, I submitted the following:

We're a janitorial service in Phoenix AZ. In restrooms, lunch areas, shower rooms, etc., we use a quat based hospital grade disinfectant (Johnson's Virex); after cleaning all areas, we mist the quat on, heavily, and leave to air dry - generally getting the required 10-minute dwell time. In most restrooms, etc., with tiled walls, and floors designed to flood rinse, we can leave surfaces wet for 10 minutes without damaging anything.

Office touch points present different challenges. Some surfaces - drywall, unsealed wood - ought not be left wet for very long. Vertical surfaces - doors & jambs, light switches, glass - are difficult to keep wet, especially in Phoenix's dry climate, without standing by the surface with a spray bottle for the 10 minutes - so achieving (or claiming) effective disinfection is unworkable.

Therefore, for touch-points around the office, we use a hydrogen-peroxide product, Johnson's Alpha HP. At least according to the research lab that developed the product, it achieves effective sanitation in 30 to 60 seconds, depending on the pathogen; this is much more easily achieved, with a sanitizer-saturated cloth (microfiber, so you physically remove most of the germs in addition to killing them). The product is also a better cleaner than the neutral cleaner it replaces in our system, so we remove grime and prints at the same time. Being mostly HP (with trace amounts of surfactant, chelating agent, etc.), the product residue is environmentally and personally friendly.

Naturally, we've squirreled away a supply of gloves and face masks (in addition to usual requirements), just in case, and offer to provide clients with sanitizing wipes for daytime use.

A bit about us:

My firm, CBN Building Maintenance, provides commercial cleaning services in Phoenix AZand the wider metro area. We've been in business since 1974; hold the BBB's A-plus rating; and have long been in the forefront of the industry in environmentally sensitive cleaning for health, safety and security. Our program can generally improve Indoor Air Quality, in the size range of most allergens, by a factor of 50%, as reflected in our ongoing IAQ sampling.

We're exploring the option of not using liners at all, in those cans that generally receive only dry material (office paper, etc.). It'll be interesting, seeing what the customers think...

A bit about us:

My firm, CBN Building Maintenance, provides commercial cleaning services in Phoenix AZand the wider metro area. We've been in business since 1974; hold the BBB's A-plus rating; and have long been in the forefront of the industry in environmentally sensitive cleaning for health, safety and security. Our program can generally improve Indoor Air Quality, in the size range of most allergens, by a factor of 50%, as reflected in our ongoing IAQ sampling.

10/16/2009

Since DuPont introduced Hysurf vacuum bags, the first generation of commercially viable vacuum cleaner filtration technology (filtering particles down to one micron, and thus capturing most allergens), we've figured that improving a client's indoor air quality is, after basic sanitation, the most significant contribution we can make toward a client's health. (Naturally, we've upgraded with the several generations of equipment and filtration technology since.)

Studies of school absenteeism rates and cleaning methodology point to much more illness caused by what folks breathe than by what they touch (even given what a lot of grade schoolers seem to touch...)

Further, we clean facilities at most once per day. Our best efforts at restroom and touch-point disinfection, while certainly important, last only until the first swine flu carrier uses the restroom, touches the door push plate, or coughs next to a co-worker. Fine dust, including airborne bacteria, dust mite droppings, spores and pollen, and other allergens, can remain in the building, mostly in the carpet, forever - or until someone inhales them and thereby removes them from the building.

Standard paper vacuum bags or, worse, dumpable cloth bags, filter out particles down to about 10 microns in diameter - larger than most allergens and other dangerous particles. Smaller particles can remain airborne for up to 8 hours after being vacuumed out of the carpet (or stirred up by foot traffic, or by your dependable feather duster or dust mop) - and inhaled throughout the working day.

HEPA vacuum filters, microfiber dust wipes, microfiber damp mops, and attachments to vacuum rather than dust-mop tile floors, are inexpensive; in fact, they are cheap enough that their cost is usually more than covered by the labor saved in dusting (the cleaner I leave the building tonight, the less work I need to do in it tomorrow).

Cost saving technology, healthier clients, healthier crews - you can't ask for much more (at least that's not either immoral or fattening).

A bit about us:

My firm, CBN Building Maintenance, provides commercial cleaning services in Phoenix AZand the wider metro area. We've been in business since 1974; hold the BBB's A-plus rating; and have long been in the forefront of the industry in environmentally sensitive cleaning for health, safety and security. Our program can generally improve Indoor Air Quality, in the size range of most allergens, by a factor of 50%, as reflected in our ongoing IAQ sampling.

10/05/2009

Caught an article on CleanLink (also on SchoolFacilities.com) quoting Dr. Marilyn Black, founder of Greenguard Environmental Institute (GEI) titled "A Green Building is Different Than a Healthy Building".

Dr. Black points out that building components and finishes (and office equipment) may be friendly to the environment, but still off-gas a wide array of chemicals, such as formaldehyde, that are not particularly people-friendly. All true.

Note, however, that as the building and its contents mature, less and less chemical is off-gassed, so indoor air quality concerns ought to focus on airborne particles (bacteria, spores & pollen, dust mite droppings, etc.) rather than gases. An inadequately cleaned building will accumulate these fine particles — mostly hidden in the carpet. Foot traffic and air circulation will keep some of those particles airborne. As particles accumulate, the building will become progressively less healthy for the people breathing its air.

One can counter this trend by proper cleaning: HEPA filters on the vacuums, vacuuming rather than dust mopping hard floors, microfiber wiping rather than feather-dusting, and microfiber damp mops rather than traditional string mops. One can also measure indoor air quality (airborne particle count) ongoing, to monitor the effectiveness of one's program, and for the edification of one's clients (we're a janitorial service in Phoenix AZ). It also helps to keep a finish ("floor wax") on the VCT; tile is porous, finish is not, so a properly finished floor is easier to disinfect.

Easy and inexpensive to do, and a great way to keep your green building (or even your off-color one) healthy for staff, and for the "breathing public".

A bit about us:

My firm, CBN Building Maintenance, provides commercial cleaning services in Phoenix AZand the wider metro area. We've been in business since 1974; hold the BBB's A-plus rating; and have long been in the forefront of the industry in environmentally sensitive cleaning for health, safety and security. Our program can generally improve Indoor Air Quality, in the size range of most allergens, by a factor of 50%, as reflected in our ongoing IAQ sampling.

10/02/2009

I'm asked, from time to time, what the owner of a new janitorial firm ought do to both gain technical competence in his chosen field, and to demonstrate to his potential clients both his bona-fides, and that technical competence.

• U. S. Green Building Council - knowledge you need should you have a client looking at LEED certification; local chapters can train in LEED criteria

• IMAGE- a new Immigration & Customs program, allowing firms to partner with the Feds to better control one's hiring and screening procedures.

Try it - you'll be more competent, more legitimate, and can demonstrate it.

A bit about us:

My firm, CBN Building Maintenance, provides commercial cleaning services in Phoenix AZand the wider metro area. We've been in business since 1974; hold the BBB's A-plus rating; and have long been in the forefront of the industry in environmentally sensitive cleaning for health, safety and security. Our program can generally improve Indoor Air Quality, in the size range of most allergens, by a factor of 50%, as reflected in our ongoing IAQ sampling.

Cleaning & Maintenance Management Magazine, our premier building maintenance periodical, published in its September 2009 issue an article by yours truly (I'm in janitorial service in Phoenix AZ) entitled "Measuring and Improving the Air".

I discuss in some depth topics I've touched on in various blog posts (see Health and Indoor Air Quality categories), including health issues and indoor air quality, our HEPA and microfiber technologies, janitorial supplies generally, how we measure our clients' indoor air pollutant level, and the results we've had over the years.

Here's a link to the article or, better, you could subscribe to the magazine (866-721-4807); the on-line magazine is found at www.cmmonline.com. (Editor Rich DiPaolo did NOT ask me for the plug, but I kind of thought I should.)

A bit about us:

My firm, CBN Building Maintenance, provides commercial cleaning services in Phoenix AZand the wider metro area. We've been in business since 1974; hold the BBB's A-plus rating; and have long been in the forefront of the industry in environmentally sensitive cleaning for health, safety and security. Our program can generally improve Indoor Air Quality, in the size range of most allergens, by a factor of 50%, as reflected in our ongoing IAQ sampling.

We've offered janitorial services in Phoenix since 1974; hold the BBB's A-plus rating; and have long been in the forefront of the industry in environmentally sensitive cleaning for health, safety and security. Our office cleaning program can generally improve Indoor Air Quality, in the size range of most allergens, by a factor of 50%, as reflected in our ongoing IAQ sampling. We also furnish Green Seal certified recycled restroom paper products and janitorial supplies.